Brett’s Travelblog of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China and The USA

14th Oct 05….

Well today was a great laugh. The girls hired local motorbike drivers to take us round the sites and I hired my own bike.

The weather was fab and we biked around the surounding countryside of Hue taking in lots of sites.

We all feel the same though after visiting some fantastic temples in Thailand, Angkor Wat in Cambodia that the temples here just do not compare at all. Also they charge none Vietnamese entrance fees so we mostly looked around the grounds from outside. We also came accross this little family run busines were they make insense candles of all types, I bought some for our room…. Should atleast keep the insects away!!!

We looked at a few tombs and pagodas before visiting the Royal Arena which is a couple of hundred years old and is like a small Collaseum ( Rome ) They used to fight Elephants ( representing Royalty ) Vs Tigers ( representing Maderins ( Chinese) ) They would not feed the tigers for days but aparantly the elephants would always win, doesnt sound like much of a sport if there was always one winner.

We visited Bunker Hill which is a Hill with a Bunker on it for those that didnt guess. There is a French and American bunker on top and the views were fantastic.

We also visited some old tanks and guns left over from the war, I climbed into one of the tanks which was like an oven when I dropped in.

We stopped for lunch at a little cafe before heading back to the local market in Hue to do some shopping.

Again got loads of great pics but cant upload them yet as internet to slow, gonna have a right job to sort it out when Im back in Thailand.

That evening Ann had an early night and Cathy and Myself headed to a bar called DMC for a couple of beers before heading back to the hotel.

To be honest we have been so spoiled with hotels in Vietnam, for less than 2 pounds a night each we are getting aircon, cable tv, fridge, ensuite bathroom and nice large clean rooms. Makes you realise what you can get for your money out here. Next time I visit South East Asia Im heading out with money only. Buy everything here ( Thailand ) and accomadation is just so cheap.

15th Oct 05.

Checked out our hotel 2day at 12 noon and walked around Hue. Catching a bus at 5pm to take us on a 13 hour drive to Hanoi Vietnams Capital city.

The bus ride its self went smoothly ish, the drivers here are mad and overtake on blind bends just holding down their horns, you get used to going around corners on the coach with wheels coming off the floor and playing chicken with oncoming traffic. I think we all thought we would have to have a crash at some point but gladly we didnt.

16th Oct 05…

We arrived in Hanoi ahead of target and checked into the Eden Hotel just on the outskirts of the Old Quaters in the middle of Hanoi. Again $10 split between 3 of us for a room that is so large we have great big pillors supporting the ceiling, chandaliers ( spl?).

Hanoi is a lovley city, we spent all day walking the tree lined streets having coffees in little cafes overlooking Hoan Kiem lake, walking through Lenin Park, ( at this point I wont name names but one of the girls thought the park was named after John Lenin( the Beatles ) I pointed out that it was the communist leader Lenin and not John Lenon)

The city is very French Colonial, clean and no begging here to be seen.

That evening we went for some posh nosh at Kim Quys. ( maybe I would have been more suited at Mcdonalds!)

The food wasnt that expensive but the wine was $20 a bottle so like 2 days acomodation, nothing wrong with splurging occasionaly. We had a terraced table with views of the city after 2 hours there we went across the street to Legends Bar and had 1 littre glasses each of beer, which took some drinking but we managed it. Then off to a Jazz club for a bit before heading to New Wave Night club to dance the night away untill it closed at 2am.

17th Oct 05….

I felt tired and hung over today and stayed in bed till 3pm which was needed. We leave Hanoi in the morning at 7,30am and are heading to Halong bay on a 3 day trip which comprises of one night in hotel, one night on a boat and three days.

Halong Bay is East of Hanoi and has 3000 Islands of Shore. We will be boating, Kyaking, fishing, lounging on golden beaches, Swimming in clear blue seas, visiting caves, treking through one of their national parks. So not going to be online till at least thur/fri. Will report back then. Bye for now….

Tags: Halong Bay, Hanoi, Travel, Vietnam

This entry was posted on Monday, October 17th, 2005 at 8:11 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.